


Lament

by Aaronlisa



Category: The Hunger (1983)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4438673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John learns that Miriam has a very different meaning of forever than he does.  (Set towards the end of the movie.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lament

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The Hunger belongs to Tony Scott, MGM and company. 
> 
> Prompts: Written for 500themes for prompt #26 (immortal laughter)

_He had always thought that she had meant forever when she had said forever to him before taking him into her cold arms. He had never imagined that forever would only be a short spell before he was locked in a box, decrepit and decaying while still sentient._

When she promised forever, John swore that he could hear the soft sound of mirthless laughter echoing on the wind. Miriam didn’t hear nor did anyone else yet the sound seemed to follow him as he lived the life that Miriam had gifted him with. The days stretched out endlessly and nothing seemed impossible to him. The cost of his innocence was such a small price to pay for eternity in Miriam’s arms. Yet the faint sound of laughter always seemed to echo in his ears as the days faded away into history and he outlived his family, friends and contemporaries. 

And then one day, the laughter became louder. It was no longer that soft sound akin to rocks gently shifting against one another in a creek. The cacophony grew until John could distinguish individuals laughing, mocking him for his naivety. Miriam offered immortality and John was slowly learning that there was a far more sinister price tag than his innocence and maybe even his soul. 

He had tried to warn Sarah, Miriam’s newest interest, but she refused to grant him time. Something that was so precious to him now when his own time was running out. And John knew by the sound of the laughter that had turned mournful that he would soon be replaced by Sarah, who like him would be blinded by the promises that easily fell from Miriam’s seductive lips. 

When his time had finally ran out, John pleaded for death, for the true death that only Miriam could grant him, but she denied him. Far too much in love with him even now that she could only gently pick up his frail and withering body. She cradled him in her arms, the cloak of her suffocating love drowning him, as she carried him to the upper most floor of the house where her other lovers lay in their coffins. John finally understood that it hadn’t been laughter that he had heard but instead it was the mournful lament of those who had come before him, of those who had been lured by Miriam’s sweet lies and false promises of forever. He would be tied to her forever and ever like all of the others but he wouldn’t have the beauty and youth she had also promised him. 

As she turned away from him, and from the others, on her way to seduce the lovely Sarah, his voice joined the choir of the others that had come before him. All of them locked in their decaying and withering bodies pleading for Miriam to grant them a final death instead of this slow and lingering one. She ignored them, whispering her love for them, even as she walked away from them all with the intent to add another to their ranks in another century or two. 

It was John who laughed first, his laughter cruel and mocking. He had no words for a lament for her. 

 

((END))


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